Search

Drawing on interviews with seasonal agricultural workers employed in Canada from Jamaica and Mexico, this paper focuses in on the experiences of a Jamaican farmworker who remits funds to pay a neighbour to farm his land (or the land he leases) while in Canada, and who participates in regular long-distance discussions with family members and neighbours back home about the upkeep of the farm. The concept of a “transnational agricultural care chain” is proposed here to capture a series of personal links between people, located, at least temporarily, in different countries, who tend to the crops and farmland as a practice that entails asymmetrical relations of obligation to care for others. Agricultural care chains form part of a strategy to get by and possibly even advance the economic and social standing of one’s family under difficult economic conditions. Land access, as a co-constitutive sphere of production and reproduction, is another important factor in the livelihood strategies of rurally-rooted migrants, but the significance placed on land must be understood in connection to the uneven processes of global capitalism, histories of colonialism and, in the case of Jamaica, plantation slavery. The paper concludes with a reflection on how transnational agricultural care chains as paradigmatic of the contemporary food system are relevant to political and conceptual discussions around food sovereignty.

How did labour fare in 2024? In many ways, the Canadian labour market and labour movement are both looking more like they did pre-pandemic. Hopes of using the relatively robust post-pandemic economy as a springboard to build something better seem to largely be fading. Strike activity was down considerably in 2024, after reaching historic heights the previous year, by some measures. Wage growth has cooled, even as unions continue to seek pay increases to account for post-pandemic inflation. While some legislative gains were made this past year, governments also intervened in several important labour actions to end or pre-empt strikes and to come to the aid of employers who locked out their workers. In particular, the federal government has been especially coercive in its use of back-to-work orders.... Introduction

To be published: April 2025. British Columbia was the site of some of the most significant events in the history of the labour movement and had some of the best-organized and most politically conscious communist workers. In this illuminating volume, Jon Bartlett follows the activities of BC Communists from the onset of the Great Depression to the coming of the Popular Front and investigates the collisions between these Communists and the organs of the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. Reflecting on the vectors of cultural resistance, from the creation of vernacular newspapers to the circulation of popular song and verse, Bartlett charts workers’ efforts to resist wage cutbacks in mines, mills, and the logging and fishing industries and describes the organization of opposition to the relief camps and its outcomes. -- Publisher's description

To be published: April 2025. As Canada sought to protect its borders and aid its allies during the Cold War, many people were recruited to build the emerging security state: as construction and maintenance workers, engineers, members of the armed forces, medical researchers, and research subjects. Security work transformed the lives of individuals, families, and communities in ways that were both predictable and surprising, and both beneficial and harmful; the militarization and colonization of Indigenous lives and lands was especially disruptive. The opening essays of Cold War Workers intimately portray the complicated effects of Cold War labour upon Indigenous lives. Elmer Sinclair, a residential school survivor and member of the Canadian armed forces, achieved equality with white men through his militarized masculinity. His more positive professional experience contrasts with those of Indigenous workers on northern radar lines, many of whom lost languages, connections to the land, and other elements of traditional cultures as they sought new skills and better employment. Diverse Indigenous experiences of Cold War security work set the scene for the second set of essays, which explore the impact of security preoccupations on marginalized groups – the study of extreme isolation through scientific experimentation on human subjects; the targeting of gay men with psychiatric labelling to enforce an idealized masculinity; and the restriction of gender mobility in the Canadian military, and the pushback from servicewomen. Cold War Workers raises questions about the influence of settler-colonial masculine institutional values on those who laboured for the Cold War state and society. By comparing the experiences of different types of workers, families, and communities, this volume reveals how race, gender, and privilege affected people in varied and sometimes unexpected ways. -- Publisher's description

Since the establishment of the Canadian Air Line Flight Attendants’ Association (CALFAA) in 1948 and the Airline Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in 1984, flight attendant unions have advocated for duty time limits, sufficient rest periods, and fair wages. Recently, CUPE’s Airline Division has focused their efforts on unpaid ground time – a vital but overlooked element of flight attendant labor. Despite the union’s efforts, the persistence of unpaid ground time illustrates a trend of systemic prioritization of corporate profit over workplace equity. Through an overview of academic and grey literature (e.g. news articles, government documents), this review details the history of Canadian flight attendant unions before and after neoliberal reforms in the 1980s to trace trends in labor relations. We argue that increased governmental intervention and corporate exemptions in employee-employer labor relations prioritize the industry’s financial stability, forming structural barriers that dilute unions’ change-making capacity. Ultimately, we contextualize unpaid ground time within these trends – where systemic prioritization of corporate interests trump unions’ labor concerns, leaving attendants’ workplace inequity unaddressed.

At the end of the twentieth century, as social democratic parties around the world struggled to produce a coherent response to the deindustrialization crisis, many pivoted towards progressive neoliberalism and Third Way social democracy. Almost everywhere, they turned their backs on the weakened trade union movement and embraced neoliberal assumptions about labour force flexibility and global competition. Shamefully, Third Way social democrats emphasized the moral dimension of poverty rather than its structural causes as they abandoned the old redistributive class politics of the Left. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with NDP politicians, senior economic policy advisors, and trade unionists, The Left in Power examines the response of the political Left in Ontario to the crisis that gripped the old ‘industrialized world.’ Steven High revisits the heartbreaking years of Bob Rae’s Ontario NDP government—from their historic and unexpected 1990 victory, to their policy shifts that left working-class voters feeling betrayed, to their landslide defeat in 1995—to uncover what we can learn from one social democratic party’s mistakes about how to govern from the Left. --Publisher's description

Using post-structural theories, this paper explores the public discourses of several Canadian teacher unions and grassroots teacher activist groups around the issue of school reopening plans in Canada amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper aims to highlight the ways in which these two forces of teacher activism can influence and impress upon each other to create a different possible future for collective resistance to neoliberalism in education – an assemblage of union and grassroots activism intra-acting, shaping, and impressing upon one another.

...I offer this chapter to new and current faculty members who are interested in learning more about the role of faculty unions, what it means to be a faculty union member, and union activism as a part of an academic identity and career. I begin with a brief history of faculty unionization in Canada, followed by a discussion of the union continuum, and the relevance of faculty unions. Throughout the chapter I share my experiences and a-ha moments as a union member and conclude with lessons learned that I hope readers will find of value as they navigate their own relationship with their faculty union. --Introduction

The Doug Ford-led Conservative government's dismantling of existing labour regulations has been as swift as it has been brutal. Since 2018, Ontario has become more unequal and divided province, characterized growing precarity of job tenure, low wages and insecure work. At the same time, profits and wealth have skyrocked for Canada's business class and corporations. While many of these tendencies preced the Ford government, the policies and practices put in place since their coming to power have accelerated and deepened these trends.... Introduction

Rethinking Feminist History and Theory considers the past, present, and future of feminist history and theory, emphasizing how feminism has influenced the histories of gender, class, and labour, and their intersections. This vibrant collection, inspired by the work of historian and women’s studies scholar Joan Sangster, features essays from academics across multiple disciplines, highlighting the dynamism of feminist historical scholarship in Canada. The book explores questions such as: How has women’s resistance and radicalism been expressed, lived, represented, and repressed over the past century? How do we research these phenomena? How do we situate feminism in relation to other movements for egalitarian social change? Contributors explicitly address these recurring themes, aiming to chart new directions for future research and teaching. While primarily Canadian-focused, the collection includes global perspectives, with contributions from scholars in Chile, Finland, Sweden, and the UK. These essays emphasize the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration, incorporating insights from labour studies, political economy, anthropology, legal studies, and feminist theory. Ultimately, Rethinking Feminist History and Theory engages deeply with Sangster’s rich and wide-ranging work to understand and interpret women’s experiences. It seeks to inspire future scholarship and teaching in feminist history and theory, showcasing the ongoing relevance and adaptability of feminist perspectives. -- Publisher's description

The following thesis examines the complex reality of temporary migration within Canada's agricultural sector by investigating the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). The relevance of this inquiry hosts far-reaching implications for not only the wellbeing of migrant workers, but for the Canadian food-system, as well as migrant sending states. Furthermore, this research contributes additional knowledge and insights regarding the evolving interconnections between the climate and migration crisis that host critical impacts for Canada and the world moreover. In analyzing the impact of the SAWP on migrant workers' lives through two case studies, the project explores the interplay between climate change, globalization, neoliberalism, and liberalization in shaping the precarity faced by migrant workers in Canada. Despite the commonly advertised benefits of the SAWP, the study finds that structural barriers and power imbalances limit the realization of these benefits for migrant workers. The study ultimately explores the divided calls for reform across the sector, revealing the influence of widespread industry malpractice, and the presence of entrenched power hierarchies that have served to dominate the scope and direction of change. The research finds that the SAWP's structure and the broader context of inequalities related to globalization and neoliberalism hinder migrant workers' ability to leverage their assets and improve their livelihoods in Canada.

Now in its fourth edition, Dennis Raphael’s Social Determinants of Health offers the definitive Canadian discussion of the primary factors that influence the health of Canada’s population.This unique text on the social determinants of health contains contributions from top academics and high-profile experts from across Canada. Taking a public policy approach, the contributors to this edited collection critically analyze the structural inequalities embedded in our society and the socio-economic factors that affect health―including income, education, employment, housing, food security, gender, and race. This new edition includes recent statistics, new developments in early childhood education and the implementation of Canada’s national childcare system, and new content on the social determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ health. Particular attention is paid to how economic globalization and the acceptance of neoliberal governing ideology is shaping the health of Canadians. The COVID-19 epidemic vividly illustrated the importance of the social determinants of health, as sickness and death rates were strikingly higher among Canadians in groups already experiencing adverse living and working conditions and poorer health: lower income Canadians, recent immigrants of colour, and those experiencing housing and food insecurity. If anything positive is to come out of this experience, it will be recognition that in the current post-COVID-19 environment, it is essential to understand the socio-economic conditions that shape the health of individuals and communities. Social Determinants of Health, Fourth Edition is aimed at courses focusing on the social determinants of health at Canadian universities and colleges, particularly those in health studies and nursing, but also allied health, sociology, and human services. --Publisher's description

This chapter delves into the retention of long-tenured care workers in Canada. While turnover is a critical challenge for organisations dependent on care workers, profoundly affecting both recipients of care and their families, this chapter shifts focus to the factors that encourage retention. Through in-depth interviews with 15 long-term personal support workers in Ontario, Canada, the chapter uncovers a diverse array of motivations that sustain these workers in their roles. Additionally, it reveals the complex pressures and barriers that may compel care workers to remain in their positions even when they might otherwise consider leaving. This exploration provides valuable insights into the dynamics of retention in the care sector, shedding light on both the incentives and constraints that shape workers’ decisions to stay.

Throughout the eighteenth century, the French and British empires mobilized thousands of labourers in Canada through a system of mandatory labour known as “corvée.” This social arrangement was rooted in the feudal obligations of French peasants to landowners. Under the French regime, corvée was a custom, an obligation, and a form of obedience, a “local affair” embedded in an agricultural way of life that retainined a sense of reciprocity with mechanisms to discourage exploitation. However, with the British conquest of Quebec in 1763, and, later, the American Revolution, the corvée system assumed new dimensions. The British recognized the need for labour power in an underpopulated region and coopted the corvée customs for their own imperial ends. Though British officials retained some French statutes, they enacted new laws mobilizing the male inhabitants of New France to work in state enterprises (such as iron mining and logging), with Labourers holding little to no input into how the colonial state viewed their well-being. Leaning heavily on corvée as a form of conscription, the British army’s surging demand for workers in Quebec precipitated wide-spread protests. This crisis forced the royally appointed governor Frederick Haldimand to ratify a new provincial code regulating the use of corvée. Workers of War and Empire from New France to British America, 1688-1783 chronicles the transformation of the corvée system over a century, positioning French Canadian workers at the center of the narrative. -- Publisher's description

North American regimes of industrial legality provide workers with protected rights to organize, bargain collectively and strike. However, they also limit the freedom to strike. Trade unions commonly accept and enforce these limits, but at great cost to solidarity and militancy. This article examines the many ways law works against labour by restricting the freedom to strike and explores the practice of unlawful strikes in North America, including recent examples that resulted in successful outcomes. It concludes with reflections on the revival of unlawful strikes as a tactic forrebuilding and remobilizing the North American labour movement. While the article’s focus is North America, the discussion of unlawful strikes may also be relevant in other countries that limit the freedom to strike.

This article explores the challenges facing injured migrant farm workers in the workers’ compensation system in Canada's province of Ontario, with a focus on their fight for return to work justice. Told from the perspective of one of the lawyers who represented the workers, it highlights a recent victory achieved by 4 workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in defending their rights to workers’ compensation support. The workers’ compensation tribunal decided that the workers’ compensation board must evaluate these workers’ ability to return to work, access retraining, and receive compensation based on their labor markets in Jamaica—instead of based on fictional job prospects in Ontario. The tribunal also called out the need to consider systemic anti-Black racism in workers’ compensation law and policy. The article analyzes how this legal victory could reshape workers’ compensation policy in Ontario for injured migrant farm workers. It also discusses the implications of the win for injured workers in other temporary work programs and precarious employment sectors.

Using collective agreement and strike data from the Canadian Federal and provincial jurisdictions for the years 1978–2019, this study examines the effect that various legislative regimes that govern public‐sector bargaining disputes have on the incidence, duration and cost of conflict. This study seeks to replicate and improve previous estimates related to this topic but also extends the analysis to examine changes to the legal environment in Canada in which labour rights have been increasingly enshrined in constitutional law through the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This study finds, in contrast to previous studies, that the legislative regime impacts the way agreements are settled when disputes occur but not the likelihood of a directly negotiated agreement prior to impasse. It also highlights some differences in contract and wage settlements prior to and after the constitutionalization of labour rights in Canada.

Discusses injury rates of warehouse workers at Amazon, with particular reference to Ontario. Concludes that workers must organize to counterbalance the management priorities of the world's second largest corporation.

This article is a minimum filmography about the fundamental issue of mobility. The films reviewed here represent Mexican workers who travel to Canada as temporary workers, thus, who are legal economic migrants. ...This article seeks to introduce the main problems of SAWP [Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program] in the framework of an approach that takes place in the 2020’s; presenting the activists’ struggle, pointing out SAWP’s problems for the families affected and with regard to the process of temporary workers soliciting Canadian citizenship. I analyze five films produced over the last 15 years and present them chronologically to discover how seasonal agricultural workers’ participation in the programs signed by Mexico and Canada is documented.

In June 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced impending new pilot programs for migrant care workers. While the announcement brings hope that “new pilot programs will provide home care workers with permanent residence on arrival in Canada,” this report identifies persistent problems with Canada’s migrant care worker programs and demonstrates why permanency upon arrival is a requisite for necessary program changes. Given the ongoing and structural issues of Canada’s migrant care worker programs, the newest pilot programs will also need other critical improvements to ensure dignified work and meaningful inclusion for much-needed care workers in Canada. --Website summary